BRAZILIAN LEFT-WING LITERATURE LITERATURA BRASILEIRA DE ESQUERDA Fan Xing1 Resumo
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ARTICLE BRAZILIAN LEFT-WING LITERATURE LITERATURA BRASILEIRA DE ESQUERDA Fan Xing1 Resumo: A gênese e desenvolvimento da literatura de esquerda no Brasil está intimamente ligada aos obstáculos e dilemas encontrados durante a evolução do país, e também é inseparável de movimentos políticos internacionais e correntes intelectuais. Da abolição da escravatura e colapso do império, no século XIX ao estabelecimento e retorno da ditadura, nos anos 30 e 60 do século XX, em cada momento de crise, a literatura brasileira de esquerda teve um papel seminal. Ao criticar injustiças sociais, ela também revigora o desenvolvimento da moderna literatura brasileira, incorporando diferentes formas de linguagem, pensamentos e arte. É seguro dizer que a literatura de esquerda forma um tipo de tradição literária no Brasil, porque não somente representa uma posição moral e estética, mas também inova a forma e a estética. Palavras-chave: literatura brasileira, literatura de esquerda, tradição literária Abstract: The rise and development of Left-wing literature in Brazil is closely connected to the obstacles and dilemmas encountered during the evolution of its nation, and it is also inseparable from international political movements and intellectual trends. From the abolishment of slavery and collapse of empire in the nineteenth century, to the establishment and return of dictatorship in the 30s and 60s of the twentieth century, at every moment of crisis, Brazilian left-wing literature always played a seminal role. While criticizing social injustices, it also invigorates the development of modern Brazilian literature by incorporating different forms of language, thoughts and art. It is safe to say that left-wing literature forms a kind of literary tradition in Brazil, as it not only represents a moral and ethical stand, but also innovates the form and aesthetics. Keywords: Brazilian Literature, Left-wing Literature, Literary Tradition Left-wing writers and their works have always occupied an important position in the studies of Brazilian literature, thanks first and foremost to the left-wing's close attention to social reality. As a former colony of Portugal, Brazil, after its independence, on the one hand continued to absorb European cultural influence, and on the other hand, was conscious that it lagged behind Europe in economic and social development. Therefore, from independence onwards, the construction of the Brazilian nation has been closely related to solving practical problems and promoting social development. On this basis, recording and criticizing the various flaws of Brazilian society and attempting to improve the living conditions of the ordinary people have become the core pursuit of many Brazilian intellectuals. Since the end of the 19th century, as a large number of European immigrants entered Brazil, anarchist ideas and naturalist literature spread in Brazil, ethnic division and economic inequality have become important literary themes. In the 1930s, influenced by the October Revolution in Russia, the Great Depression in the West and the “Estado Novo” dictatorship in Brazil, left-wing novels took the center stage of Brazilian literary creation, becoming the driving force in Brazilian modernist literature. The 1Peking University – PKU, Beijing, Beijing, China; http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1193-547X; [email protected] -72 Rev. Bras. Lit. Comp. Niterói, v. 22, n. 41, pp. 72-83, set. /dez. 2020 https://doi.org/10.1590/2596-304X20202241fx resurgent military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s prompted another wave of resistance literature, and even after the process of "re-democratization" in Brazil in the 1980s, the left- wing spirit is still respected by the literary community, as great emphasis have been placed on literary creations’ ability to expose, to criticize and to promote social equality. However, despite leaning towards a left-wing ideological stand in literary creation, the concept of "left-wing literature" itself has not received due attention. That is to say, most of the existing studies have separated the works of writers with strong social criticism in various periods, nor have they noticed the connection between them or incorporated them into a unified left-wing literary tradition. Therefore, this review of Brazilian left-wing literature is not only an outline of this type of literature in Brazil, but also an attempt to demonstrate the inner coherence and evolution of this particular tradition in Brazilian literature. What is Brazilian left-wing literature Due to the lack of systematic exposition of left-wing literature in Brazilian literary studies, the use of "left-wing literature" also seems ill-defined, which is often applied interchangeably with terms like "Revolutionary Literature", "Intervention Literature", "Resistance Literature", "Marginal Literature", "Social novels", "Regionalism Literature" and "Proletarian Literature". For example, in the 1930s, Aderbal Jurema made it clear that "(No Brasil) a literatura da esquerda está sendo chamada impropriamente de literatura proletária" (211). At that time, there were in fact no proletarian writers, and many works that criticized class exploitation did not directly reflect the life of the working class, instead were observation and reflection from the perspective of the bourgeoisie. Even so, many intellectuals still referred to such works as "Proletarian Literature", and the misuse of this concept still occurs today. Such a large degree of misuse of terminology makes it difficult to determine the scope of Brazilian left-wing literature. The most common mistake is that the meaning of "left-wing literature" is improperly expanded to include all works containing social criticism, despite the fact some of the authors may simply be nostalgic and saudosist dissatisfied with the status quo, or social conservatives who yearned for freedom because they detested dictatorship. Especially when a writer belongs to the same literary circle as many left-wing writers, their differences in political positions are often overlooked, of which José Lins do Rego is the prime example. José Lins is regarded as a member of the "Northeast Writers" group because of a wonderful tale of the decline of his hometown Paraíba, and is often associated with Communists such as Jorge Amado. Therefore, posterior studies of José Lins usually focused on his criticism about social realities, ignoring the fact that such complaints may derive more from his nostalgia for being a privileged landowner in an epoch when the rural areas had not declined. In reality, from the perspective of the leftists, José Lins was actually more Like a "right-wing writer" (Bueno, 207). Another common error is to unnecessarily narrow the concept of left-wing literature by equating it solely with literary creation guided by communist or Marxist principles. After all, in the context of Brazilian literature, even when communist ideas were most popular in the 1930s, the Brazilian Communist Party had a rather limited role in leading left-wing literary creation. During this period, many well-known communist writers outright rejected the Party’s inner censorship. At the same time, even after joining the Communist Party, most intellectuals did not have a particularly deep understanding of Marxist theory itself, as emphasized by Jorge Amado, Brazil's most iconic left-wing writer: "Eu nunca lera Marx, não sei se muitos dentre nós o leram (…) mas a maioria dos líderes do PC sem dúvida jamais o leu." (Raillard 74) This lack of theoretical unity did not prevent them from directly attacking class exploitation in their writing, or calling for a revolutionary movement centered on the proletariat. -73 Rev. Bras. Lit. Comp. Niterói, v. 22, n. 41, pp. 72-83, set. /dez. 2020 https://doi.org/10.1590/2596-304X20202241fx Taking the above factors into consideration, the concept of Brazilian left-wing literature should first be defined before further analysis. In fact, despite confusion in its expression and use, Brazilian works classified as left-wing literature still show many consistent features. When discussing Brazilian proletarian literature in the 1930s (that is, left-wing literature, if we concur with the above-mentioned point of Zurema), Luís Bueno pointed out that although this category of literature is ill-defined, there are still three main characteristics that can still be observe: focus on the mass, revolutionary spirit and its ability to document reality (207). Such characteristics can also be extended to describe later Brazilian left-wing literary creation. Therefore, for the purpose of discussion in this article, "left-wing literature" will be limited to those works that focus on the living conditions of the socially disadvantaged groups and intentionally promote the overall change of society towards achieving justice, freedom and equality. Race and Politics at the Turn of the 20th Century In studies of European and American left-wing literature (Wu; Foley), even if the subject is proletarian literature after the October Revolution, scholars usually go back to the 19th century to start discussion with the socially critical Naturalistic Literature. According to the definition above, Brazilian left-wing literature undoubtedly also originated in the second half of the nineteenth century, a period of dramatic change in Brazil's history. Major powers of the world had already abolished slavery, and most South American countries established their own republics after independence, which put more pressure on the Brazilian empire that held on